SCIPIO - When childhood friends Ginger Obed, Val Powers and Pam Purdy found out that their good friend Eileen Alnutt Bevier was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant the trio knew right away that they had to do something to help.

The ladies got together and decided that the best way to help their friend was to hold a benefit to raise funds to help with mounting medical costs.

“We put this together with lots and lots of help and lots of wonderful people,” Obed said during the benefit held Saturday afternoon at Club 34 in Scipio. “We all grew up together and were in the same graduating class.”

Diagnosed with leukemia this past March, Eileen has since been receiving chemotherapy at St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, according to her son, Rob Bevier.

“My mother has been spending a lot of her time receiving chemo,” he said. “The doctors and nurses at St. Joseph's have just been wonderful. They have been out of this world.”

Although Eileen has since had to cut back on her work schedule as a medical records coder at Auburn Memorial Hospital she continues her computer work at home.

“The hospital has set her up with a computer at home,” Rob said. “This way she can still work about 20 hours a week from home.”

Rob said Eileen has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years and by continuing her work from home she can retain her medical benefits and also guarantee her placement when she is able to return to full-time work.

“She hopes to return to work when this is all done,” he said.

“I talked with her the other day and she said that continuing to work helps her to keep her mind busy. She is a worker and wouldn't know what to do with herself if she had to sit around all day.”

A more pressing concern, however, is that Eileen is currently waiting for an available bone marrow transplant.

“There have been a few people that were tested but no matches yet,” Purdy said. “It is a long process.”

Rob's fiancee, Becki Shaffer, has since become involved with the National Marrow Donor Program and said that the organization will be hosting donor events at the State Fair and Watkins Glen in the near future.

Shaffer said that she will be available at the State Fair event for anyone wanting further information.

“This hasn't been easy. You think that it will never happen to you but it does,” Rob said. “It feels as though your whole world drops out from beneath you. But you keep your spirits up and you keep going. Our whole family have been amazed at the amount of support that we have received. The generosity of people has just been mind blowing.”